The Garden Lady: Spring is almost here

Nineteen days and counting until that vernal equinox, aka SPRING! With a mild winter, we can expect the bugs to be out in full force this spring. It hasn’t been cold enough long enough to take the bug population down a notch. Two products I recommend are food-grade diatomaceous earth and garlic pepper tea. Diatomaceous earth is like shards of glass to the insect world. If hard-bodied insects run though it, they are cut. Used in the bed prep phase, plants take up diatomaceous earth into their cell structures making it less tasty to bugs when they chomp down on leaves. Garlic pepper tea has, well, garlic and pepper in it. Bugs have a very high sense of smell and will fly elsewhere to dine. Check out the “What’s Bugging You” photo album in the Oak Cliff Organics Facebook page for up-to-date bug sightings this season.